BUSINESS ACTION GUIDE
Leading at the Intersection of People & Profits
RECOGNIZE AND REWARD
Celebrating Success and Having Fun: Zappos
As Dale Carnegie said, “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what
they are doing.” Celebrating success is an important way to underscore the
achievements that the company wants to repeat, inspiring
employees to achieve more success by making them feel
like winners. To learn more about celebrating success and having fun, we spoke
with Kelly Wolske, Senior Trainer at Zappos. Zappos is a Las Vegas-based online
provider of consumer products such as shoes and clothing that employs 1,700
KELLY WOLSKE,
SENIOR TRAINER
people. Zappos is organized around providing great customer service.
ZAPPOS’ FORMULA FOR CELEBRATING SUCCESS:
Celebrating success and having fun are priorities at Zappos. We have a
1. Celebrate wins at every level
“work hard, play hard” mentality. It helps us build strong relationships
2. Budget time and money
with each other, which means we can work more efficiently together. If
we have conflicts, we can default to giving someone the benefit of the
3. Change as the company grows
doubt. Having fun together makes people more relaxed and innovative
4. Make fun a core value
in coming up with solutions – some of the best ideas come outside of
work. Celebrating the things we achieve is one of the best motivators
for helping us repeat those achievements. These are some key lessons we learned in the process:
1. Celebrate wins at every level
It all starts with the graduation ceremony at the
end of the on-boarding period. The new hires get a
certificate, we set off air horns, and we play Pomp
and Circumstance – they are now officially part of the
family. After that, we continuously celebrate wins at
every level, from the individual to the department to
the company as a whole. We have parties, carnivals,
employee bonuses, and thank you gifts. Many
departments have a bell hanging in their area that
can be used to announce goals that have been met
or to thank others. Every week we send a “props”
email with the latest customer compliments. When
we meet big goals, such as a million-dollar sales
record, we have a parade through the building, often
with costumes. When we hit a new million dollar
sales mark, we celebrate with a T-shirt. The Finance
and Merchandising departments have a quarterly
celebration and give awards for successes. Big
company-wide successes are usually announced by an
email blast followed by an impromptu happy hour.
2. Budget time and money
Every team gets a set amount of funds per person,
per month for team building activities outside of the
office. Teams can use these funds as they wish – some
go offsite every month, and others go once a quarter.
We also make sure to pay people for their time if they
attend a company dinner or another official team
building event outside of work hours. The expense is
well worth it – the time we spend away allow us to
come back refreshed and innovative.
Sometimes we tighten our belts, but we still find ways to
spend time together off campus. It doesn’t have to be a
Zappos-sponsored event – some of us like to go to the $5
movie night on Tuesdays. Sometimes we bring a brown
bag lunch and play games, or order pizza and watch
movies. Spending time together creates shared experiences
and stories, and it pays off in so many ways. From a
marketing perspective, we have happy employees who feel
valued and take ownership – essentially 1,700 ambassadors
for the brand. We’ve surveyed our managers, and they
say that their teams are significantly more productive
because of the time they spend together having fun.
RECOGNIZE AND REWARD
3. Change as the company grows
Things have changed as we have grown – it was much
easier to take the whole company out for happy hour
when there were 30 people than today when there are
1,700. As a result, we often bring food and drinks on
campus rather than going out. For example, we used
to have a happy hour after our training class, but we
started bringing ice cream in-house instead, which is
less expensive and may even allow people to socialize
more effectively.
4. Make fun a core value
At Zappos, having fun and humor as part of our
daily work is important – it makes the company
more interesting and memorable. And individuality
is embraced because we believe that people function
best when they can be themselves. We also want a
company that goes beyond being a team and becomes
a family. This means managers who are servant-leaders,
ZAPPOS’ CORE VALUES
1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With
Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble
and team members who spend time together at
work and beyond, building strong bonds of trust that
facilitate collaboration and caring.
FINAL WORDS OF WISDOM
When you encourage people to have fun and be themselves at work, they are able to think outside the box and be more
innovative. Frequently celebrating our achievements is one of the best motivators for more success. In the end, the time
and money spent on team-building, parties, and happy hours yields big returns in terms of engaged employees and
satisfied customers.
HOW DO WE LEARN MORE?
11 Easy Ways to Make Work Fun
10 Ways to Make Your Office Fun to Work in
Celebrate the Good Times
How to Celebrate Success in the Workplace
Other companies that actively celebrate success and have fun include SRC and Zingerman’s.
For more information:
Mark Popovich, VP of Program
[email protected]
202-828-1643
Tom Strong, Sr. Program Officer
[email protected]
202-828-1657
Profile researched and written by
Anne Claire Broughton,
Broughton Consulting, LLC
[email protected]
www.broughton-consulting.com
www.BusinessActionGuides.com